Deep Trouble

Tom Fitton, the head of Judicial Watch, is not a man given to hyperbole. So, the language he is using to describe the behavior of the FBI is worth paying attention to. Speaking to Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network, he raised serious doubts about the integrity of the nation’s premier police agency. JW’s initial requests for docuemnts related to the notorious secret tarmac meeting between Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton while the DoJ was investigating Hillary’s emails encountered what looks like deliberate obstruction, with no documents allegedly found. Yet, a later requetss turned up documents that were related: 30 of them. The FBI is now redacting them, prior to release, a process that itself is raising suspicions.

Fitton did not mince words describing the situation.

“This is a fundamental question whether we can trust our nation’s law enforcement agency, the FBI and the justice Department not to break the law and be dishonest.”

Judge Napolitano, commenting on the situation with Eric Shawn on Fox News, made the very solid point that the very existence of 30 documents related to an allegedly spontaneous meeting about grandchildren makes no sense at all. We have been fed lies about a meeting that should never have happened.

Here is the segment, and a rush transcript follows that of Fitton, below:

Fitton transcript:

The FBI located 3 some documents connected to the 2016 tarmac meeting between former president Bill Clinton and attorney general Loretta lynch. The papers detailing the interaction will be released next month. Judicial Watch requesting those documents. They were told by the justice Department those documents don’t exist. Guess what? The Justice Department shall I say lied or found out they were
—found out they were inaccurate. Another victory and important one for the public’s right to know. So congratulations. How can this be that justice Department doesn’t know about these documents or chooses to straight out lie to you and subsequently all of us?

You have to ask what’s going on. We had two lawsuits against the Justice Department and FBI. The FBI said they couldn’t find anything, we finally got some document showing the justice Department was talking to the FBI about the clinton-lynch tarmac meeting. So, the FBI said, looks like we might have documents. We’re going to reopen your case. And that’s when we found out they had 30 document. I don’t think this an oversight. I think we caught them red-handed.

Lou: As you have done more often than otherwise. This tells you what the problem is. The American people have a government that is corrupt. The American people have a government — it’s not necessary because someone takes money — but is so politicized it’s politically corrupt and ideologically corrupt. It’s stunning stuff. By the way, now that you have got document. When do you actually get them and what shape will they be in? Will there be word on the pages when you get them?

That’s the big yes. The government says they need up to November 30 to turn the documents to us. Lou: They can’t read 30 pages in less than a month and a half.

Director WRAY who is the new head of the FBI. I would think he might want to ask questions about what happened here. We were told when Comey was FBI director, the idea they didn’t have document strains credulity. A responsible official needs to look at this. This is a fundamental question whether we can trust our nation’s law enforcement agency, the FBI and the justice Department not to break the law and be dishonest. We are in the middle of a court case and they tell us they don’t have documents. What are we supposed to do, go to the court every time and say the FBI is lying? Lou: Tell me why the American people should have any more belief about the FBI than that’s where investigations go to die. I can’t think of a major scandal that’s been resolved by the investigation of the FBI. I am talking about going back to the fast and furious, Benghazi, they never reach a conclusion. There is never a report. This is something rancid and wrong at justice.

Especially when the justice Department other FBI are implicated in the scandals, you are never going to get the truth or it will be difficult to do so. Last week we were asking for the Comey memos that he supposedly wrote. The Justice Department said we can’t have one of them, any of them because it would interfere with Mueller’s investigation. So now the Justice Department is working with Mueller to keep material Comey leaked away from the American people. Lou: And the Senate and house leadership haven’t got the guts to say enough and end it now. We’ll have to get you back here soon. We’ll take it up. Fitton.

Napolitano transcript:

SHAWN: “We have a Fox News alert on those newly uncovered documents from the F.B.I. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch says they’re related to that controversial Phoenix airport tarmac meeting between former president Bill Clinton and then-Obama attorney general Loretta Lynch. You may remember that meeting happening last year and it happened just before a decision came down whether or not there would be any indictments in the Hillary Clinton e-mail case. Judicial Watch all 30 pages will be sent to them by the end of November in response to their Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Guess what? They say the F.B.I. first told them they didn’t have them. Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior Fox News judicial analyst is with us. Judge, what is it with the F.B.I.? So many times in cases that we cover, they don’t know if they have something. Lawyers try to get something. They say, ‘We don’t have anything,’ and voila, poof, they get something.”

NAPOLITANO: “It is not just the F.B.I. It is almost all of the federal government. And the Trump State Department has done the same thing with Freedom of Information Act requests. There is an institutional instinctual response, ‘We don’t have it, we don’t have it. We can’t find it.’ And then the person making the FOIA request files a lawsuit and the federal judge says, ‘Look for it,’ and they find it. In this case we don’t know what was found. We only know that the FBI, through lawyers in the Justice Department, told lawyers for Judicial Watch, a think-tank that sues the government for transparency, that they found 30 or so documents relating to this event.”

SHAWN: “And we don’t know what those documents are.”

NAPOLITANO: “Correct. We don’t know what they show or who instigated the meeting. We don’t know what they stated purpose of the meeting was. It may reinforce what Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch said they talked about, their grandchildren — I’m doing air quotes because it sounds absurd they would go to these lengths just to talk about their grandchildren — or if they really and truly did talk about whether or not the DoJ was going to seek Mrs. Clinton’s indictment.”

SHAWN: “It went on for 40 minutes or so. Hillary Clinton said there was nothing inappropriate was said in any way. Both of them, meaning her husband and Loretta lynch, came to regret exchanging pleasantries that day.”
NAPOLITANO: “This is also the stated purpose for Jim Comey’s going rogue. That is, taking the ball away from his superiors in the Justice Department and deciding on his own whether or not — I say stated purpose. We don’t know the real purpose. Deciding on his own whether or not to present evidence to a grand jury seeking Clinton’s indictment. There is more than enough evidence to sought her indictment. But between the tarmac meeting and the decision by Jim Comey she wasn’t indicted. She could still be indicted. The statute of limitations is five years — seven years. It’s plenty of time.”

SHAWN: “Judicial Watch says the F.B.I. In their view is quote, out of control. Here is their statement. The F.B.I. Is out of control, stunning, the F.B.I. Found these records only after we caught the agency hiding them in another lawsuit. We’ll continue to press for answers about the F.B.I. Document gains in court. In the meantime the F.B.I. Should stop the stone wall and release these new records immediately. There is significant controversy about whether the F.B.I. And Obama justice Department investigation gave Clinton and other witnesses a potential targets pref rention treatments.”

NAPOLITANO: “The culture in Washington, let’s protect our predecessors in the hope that our successors will protect us. That’s not their job. Their job is to find and reveal documents that are sought unless there is some legitimate privilege claimed in which case the judge decides they stay secret.”
SHAWN: “Could we get an indication by the nature of these documents whether or not they’re sensitive and the F.B.I. Was trying to hide something or if they’re regular “
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NAPOLITANO: “The F.B.I. Revealed the existence of 30 of them. If they turn over 25 they have to say what they did with the other five. Why they didn’t turn them over and a judge gets to review them.”

Eric: All right. I imagine with the judge reviewing them it will give neutral observer —

It’s a neutral person deciding whether or not there is a reason in the statute, in the law, for not turning them over. Again it will depend on what judge it is.

Eric: This judge will be reading them. Judge Napolitano, thank you so much. Sandra.